2 Years Ago Today

Two years ago today, I met my amazing daughter, Sarah. We celebrated by spending some quality time alone at our neighborhood park. Later this weekend, we will all go out to eat to celebrate.

Who would have known this little angel would be such a little spitfire!! I am so blessed to be her mommy!!

Toddler Pictures of Sarah

I received the most wonderful surprise in the mail today. Toddler pictures of Sarah!! When I accepted Sarah's referral, she was 19 months old, but her referral picture was taken when she was much younger (click here to see it). I did receive scanned copies of these pictures when I was waiting to travel, but they did not scan well and were blurry. Apparantly Kathy, my agency's China representative, found the original pictures and mailed them to my agency. What a wonderful blessing to have these pictures. Thanks, Heritage!!

A Year Ago Today

A year ago today we became a family of 3. After sightseeing in Beijing, we flew to
Nanchang to meet Sarah. We thought we would get time to go to the hotel and get settled before meeting her, but our flight was delayed and we went directly to the civil affairs building. There she was, looking so terrified, with the representatives from the orphanage. Her face was beet red and she looked nothing like the pictures I had been staring at for the past 9 months. They handed her to me and she screamed for the next 3-4 hours. My heart broke for her. I can only imagine what must have been going through her 28 month old mind. She lost everything she knew. In the days ahead, she learned to trust us, and the rest is history.

A year later, it seems like Sarah has always been with our family. She is a bundle of energy and loves to give hugs and kisses. Sarah is the athlete of our family. She is a rough and tumble girl once minute, and a princess the next. Sarah loves her big sister to pieces and they are quite a pair. With Katie, I thought I had this parenting thing down pat. With Sarah, I realize I have so much more to learn!!

This has been an amazing year and I am so thankful for both of my girls. I don't know what I did to deserve them. They are the light of my life and the most amazing blessings.

Happy Family Day, Sarah!!

Sarah's Readoption

A friend and I drove to San Antonio today to readopt our daughters. This will let us get Texas birth certificates for our children. In Texas, you can go to any county to readopt your children, not just the county you live in. San Antonio judges are very family friendly. The judges in Harris county make it impossible to readopt so most families go elsewhere.

We spent 5 hours in the car and about 5 minutes in court. I highly recommend Jana Baker if you are international adoptive parent and want to readopt your children. She is wonderful.

Jana Olson Baker

Attorney

jana.baker@sbcglobel.net

210-525-0640

Pictures from disposable camera

In October, I sent a disposable camera to China with another family who was adopting a waiting child from the same orphanage. When I met Sarah on January 14th, the director returned the camera to me. I finally got the pictures developed today. Most of them are Sarah and her foster parents. The last few are of Wanzai SWI, her orphanage.

Sarah loved looking at the pictures. She first tried to hit her foster parents, then she tried to hug the picture. Awwwww!! This just broke my heart!! I can tell from these and other pictures I received of them together that her foster family loved her a lot.

(click on the title of this post to view the pictures)

Day 15: The long trip home

We woke up at 4:00AM this morning and left the hotel around 5:30AM. Actually, we were supposed to leave at 5:30, but I had a little run-in with the staff at the White Swan when I was trying to check out. I paid my agency in advance for the hotel room, which also inclued breakfast for all four of us. First, they tried to charge me for the room. I told them, no, I had already paid for the room. Then the woman got out my paperwork and crossed off that charge. Then she tried to charge me over $250 in other charges. This was also wrong because we only ate once in the hotel (besides breakfast). The only other charges we had were Pringles from the minibar (about $4) and internet charges (which was about $40 for the week). I told them I needed to see receipts for the other $150 in charges. At that time, the woman pretended not to understand what I was saying. I called our guide, Bob, over to help. He called Kathy to double check that she had paid for the room (she had). A lot of back and forth between Bob and the woman and voila~ I only owed the $100 I thought I owed. But the woman did make me give her my e-mail address and she told me she would let me know if I owed more. Most people would have probably just paid, but not me. I know my dad was proud of me for standing up to them!!

We first had to fly from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. The flight was about an hour and both girls did well. Then we flew from Hong Kong to Sanfrancisco. What a nightmare!!!!! I may never fly again!! OK, I know I will, but will have to think long and hard before I do. The girls were a handful the first half of the flight. My poor mom had both girls in her lap. The wanted nothing to do with me. About halfway into our 10.5 hour flight, they finally settled down and sat in their own seats. About this time, the turbulence was horrible!! It was scary and continued for most of the second half of the trip. Thankfully, the girls were not frightened.

We got to San Francisco about 7:30 AM. We had about 3 hours to get to our flight home. Immigration and customs were easy to get through and only took a few minutes. I am so thankful my travel agent had us go through SF instead of Los Angeles. I've heard LA can take a long time. We got to our terminal and found a Burger King!!! Yea!! American fast food!! We ate and then headed to our gate. The flight from SF to Houston was about 3.5 hours. The girls slept most of the way home, thank goodness. We landed about 4:40 Houston time. We got our luggage and headed home, walking in the door about 6:30 PM, 27 hours after we left home. We were all exhausted, but happy to be home.

We managed to stay up through Americal Idol and then headed to bed around 9:00. What a long day!!

Day 14: Last Full Day in China

Today was our last full day in China. We ate our usual breakfast and then went shopping. Bob, our guide, offered to take us sight-seeing, but we really wanted to just walk around the island and shop. We got some dresses for the girls, some presents for our family, and some snacks for the trip home. We also had to buy another suitcase to hold all of our goodies!! (I got one at Lucy's for $13). Xi Xi brought me Sarah's passport with her VISA in it this evening. The last step of our adoption is done and we can come home.

We have enjoyed our time in China, but are ready to be home. Heritage, our agency has been wonderful. I never once had to worry about anything as far as Sarah's adoption and paperwork was concerned (during Katie's adoption I worried everyday while we were in Kazakhstan that I would never get to bring her home). If things do change in China and singles are again allowed to adopt, I would use Heritage again in a second (or who knows, maybe I will get married one day and my husband and I will adopt again from China).

We leave our hotel at 5:30 AM tomorrow morning (Wednesday). I hope the girls do well on the trip home. We will arrive home 25 hours after we leave our hotel (4:45 PM Wednesday, Houston time). Please keep us in your prayers!! : )

Day 13: Sarah hits Michelle Kwan

Today we did a whole lot of nothing yet again. Katie has been having meltdowns, so we stayed in the hotel most of the day. At 3:00 Sarah and I and 54 other familes took White Swan busses (much like Greyhound busses) to the US Consulate to take our oaths. We were told very important VIPS were going to be there today. When we got there, we found out it was Karen Hughes, Under Secretary, Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, and Michelle Kwan, the ice skater. Kwan is America's first "Public Diplomacy Envoy," a position created to try to improve the U.S. image abroad. They both spoke to us and then took pictures with many of the families. We were chit chatting with Michelle Kwan when Michelle reached out towards Sarah. Sarah, acting very Sarah-like, hit her. Funny. We definitely need to work on not hitting. After we got back, we went to Lucy's to eat dinner and now we are relaxing in the hotel room. Tomorrow we will get Sarah's VISA and go shopping near the hotel. Wednesday we will return home.

Day 12: Shopping

Today we got up and had breakfast. The breakfast buffet here is really wonderful. We were going to go sightseeing this morning, but decided not to go becuse of the weather. It has been rainy and yucky here. I didn't really want the girls out in the rain. We just relaxed in the room instead. This afternoon, we met the other family here using our agency. Amy and Jim just adopted Mac. He is 6 years old and is also cleft-affected. He is such a handsome young man!! Katie just loves him and loves it when he chases her. She is a little flirt, even though they don't speak the same language. I don't think she has even realized that. We went to a huge bookstore where I got a few books for the girls. Then we went to the Toy Market. It is a huge mall-type building with a lot of little shops. We didn't get anything there. We went back to the hotel and took the girls to the playroom. It was mobbed. I took Sarah up to eat some noodle soup in the room and Mom stayed with Katie so that she could play a bit longer. Poor mom. Katie refused to leave and my mom had to drag her out kicking and screaming. We ordered dinner from Danny's Bagels again and relaxed the rest of the evening. Sarah only cried a few minutes when I put her to bed tonight. Bedtime is the only time she is sad. Overall, Sarah is adjusting amazingly well. Poor Katie is the one having troubles. I know things will get better once we are home.

Day 10: Get Passport/Leave for Guangzhou

This morning we woke up, went to breakfast, and then SArah and I went to get her passport~ the last big step before leaving for Guangzhou. At 2:00 we left for the airport. Our flight left at 4:20 and we arrived in Guangzhou about 5:45. The girls were wonderful on the flight. I was pleasantly surprised!! Bob was there to meet us. He took us to the van and then had to leave to meet another Heritage family who was arriving in an hour. It took about 40 minutes to get to the White Swan hotel. Both girls fell asleep in the car. Another Heritage guide met us at the hotel. She helped us check in and then called Danny's Bagels for us. We ordered spaghetti, pizza, and cokes. It was heavenly!! It's now 9:00 and we are heading to bed. I am so glad to be in Guangzhou!!!

Day 7: Not much going on....

Today I woke up around 6:00 AM. I took a shower while Sarah slept. Around 7:00, Sarah woke up. We went into Grandma’s room to wake up Grandma and Katie. We went to eat at the breakfast buffet. At breakfast, Katie was noting all the babies. She just loves babies. She went to talk to one family close to our table. She told the man she had a new baby “hister”. The man thought her baby sister’s name was “Hester” and kept calling Sarah “Hester”. It was too funny. When we finished, we went back up to our room to get ready for our outing. We met Mary in the lobby around 10:00 AM. She took us to see the Tengwang Pavillion. At the top of the pavillion, there was a musical performance. It was nice. Katie enjoyed dancing to the music. She is a little ham. We then went back to the hotel so that Sarah could take a nap (again, she took a 3 hour nap). While she napped, I took Katie downstairs to get ice cream. Then, we went to the playroom where Katie played with 2 other kids about her age who also got new baby histers this week. Mary met me again around 3:00 to go with me to the grocery store. Poor Sarah has a diaper rash and I had to find some diaper rash cream, among other things. We relaxed in the hotel the rest of the afternoon. Sarah sat in her stroller the whole evening. Poor little thing. I imagine she spent a lot of time in a walker so that is where she feels safest. She got very angry with me when I took her out of it. I put her to bed around 8:30. She is such a sweet child. I am so blessed to have 2 wonderful daughters.

Day 6: Adoption Day

Sarah slept through the night and I woke her up around 7:00 AM. Mary picked us up around 8:00 AM to go do our adoption paperwork. Grandma and Katie hung out in the room relaxing. Mary wanted us to be first so that we did not have to wait (there are a lot of families here). She was right. I had a brief interview: What is your occupation, why did you adopt from China, are you satisfied with this baby?. It was less than 5 minutes long. Then I had to pay my orphanage donation and fees. I gave them $4000 US dollars and got 240 yuan in change. We took our pictures over again, since Sarah was no longer crying. We left the CCAA office by 9:00 AM. We then had to go get something notorized. I think it was for Sarah’s passport, but who knows~ I could be signing my life away. We came back to the hotel and ate breakfast, since the buffet was still open. Mom and Katie came downstairs and ate with us. Sarah ate some pound cake, the first thing she has eaten since yesterday. The rest of the day we hung out in the hotel room. Sarah is warming up to us. What a difference a day makes!! Sarah took a 3 hour nap (and so did mommy). After we woke up, Mary and I went to the grocery store to get some snacks for the room. For dinner, we ordered room service. Sarah ate some noodle soup, similar to Raman noodles, and drank some water. She loves drinking water!! We went to bed around 8:30 PM. Today was a much better day!!

Day 5: Leave for Nanchang / Meet Sarah!!!!

Kathy and our driver picked us up around 8:30 to take us to the airport. I don’t think I got any sleep last night!! We got to the airport a little after 9:00 AM, but it was too early to check in for our 12:00 flight. At 10:00 we were able to check in. Our luggage was 16 kg over the allowed weight, but Kathy got them to waive our overage fee. Thanks, Kathy!! We got to our gate only to learn the flight was delayed. Finally, around 1:00 PM the flight left. We got to Nanchang around 3:30 and had to go straight to the CCAA office to meet Sarah. We got there and she was standing in front of a woman. We knelt down to talk to her. She started crying and would not come to us. I kept telling her I was her mama, but she was inconsolable. They tried taking her picture for the paperwork, but she was shrieking too hard. I signed my temporary guardianship form and we left for our hotel, the Gloria Hotel. Sarah screamed the whole way. I was talking softly to her and singing to her, hoping that would help. Katie was in the backseat and says, “Mommy, stop talking and singing to her. You’re scaring her!!“ Funny. Sarah screamed for about 2 hours straight. I know her little heart was breaking and my heart broke for her. Later in the evening, my mom and daughter, Katie started playing with some stuffed animals and Sarah started laughing. Then they started playing with some stuffed blocked I brought for Sarah and throwing them at Grandma’s head. Sarah loved this and was laughing. I tried feeding her and tried to get her to drink some water, but she wanted nothing to do with me. Around 8:30 I put her to bed. She cried for only a minute and then fell asleep. I fell asleep soon after her.

Day 4: Sightseeing in Beijing

Today we got up a little later, 5:00 AM. We went to breakfast and then met Snow in the lobby at 9:00 AM. Our plans today are to go to the Great Wall and an Acrobatics show in the evening. The drive to the Great Wall was around an hour and a half from our hotel. On the way there, we stopped at a jade factory. We took a tour and learned how raw jade is used to produce such lovely jewelry and statues. I bought a pendant for myself and a few small things for the girls. We made it to the Great Wall around 11:00. I knew there was no way I would make it to the top and did not want to risk hurting my back any worse than it already was. I did go about 1/3 of the way up and then stopped. Katie, mom, and Snow made it to the top. Katie made it all the way up all by herself!! What a little trooper!! Snow did have to carry her down, but that was OK. Katie thought her “baby hister” was at the top of the wall. We got to the van and Katie started crying~ she wanted to go back to the top of the wall!! Snow took her to another section and did go up with her again. Snow is wonderful with Katie and Katie just adores her. On the way back, we stopped at a restaurant to eat lunch. The restaurant was above an cloisonné’s factory. We did the obligatory tour and then bought a few things. We just love to shop!! Afterwards we went back to the hotel for a small rest. At 4:30 Snow and our driver were back again to take us to an acrobatics show. It as wonderful. We got back to the hotel and just snacked before going to bed around 9:00 PM. We had to rest so that we would be ready to meet Sarah tomorrow!!

Day 3: Sightseeing in Beijing

We are sightseeing in Beijing for 2 days before heading to Nanchang. Today we had a very busy day. Last night around 9:00 PM we went to bed with no problems, but I woke up around 3:00 AM. Katie woke up at 4:00 AM, so we were all up. We went to breakfast aroung 7:30. Our hotel (New World Courtyard Hotel by Marriott) has a very nice breakfast buffet. At 9:00, Snow (our guide) and the driver picked us up. We went to the Summer Palace, toured a silk factory, went on a Hutong Tour, which is a rickshaw ride through the old, preserved part of the city and toured someone’s actual home and also visited several classrooms in a kindergarten. Katie loves our guide, Snow. Snow is very good with her and was an excellent tour guide today. We look forward to another day with her tomorrow. Tomorrow, our plan is to go to the Great Wall in the morning and go to an acrobatics show in the afternoon. The weather today was beautiful and we hope the weather tomorrow is just as nice. It is now about 8:40 PM and I am exhausted. I am trying to stay awake until 9:00 PM so that I will hopefully sleep through the night. I've been trying to upload pictures, but can't for some reason. Sunday we leave for Nanchang and I will try to upload some then. For those of you who use blogger, how do I change the language to English????????????

Day 1 & 2: We made it!!

We finally made it to Beijing!! We woke up at about 2:00 AM Wednesday morning to leave the house at 3:00 AM for our 6:00 AM flight. We flew from Houston to Chicago where we had a 4 hour layover. The flight from Chicago to Beijing was 13 hours. I thought we would NEVER get here!! Katie did really well on the flight, but I did have to resort to using Benadryl after about 8 hours. We arrived in Beijing a little after 4:00 PM here, which was 2:00 AM Houston time (Beijing is 14 hours ahead of Houston time). So we arrived a little more than 23 hours after leaving our house. Man, oh, man, what a long day!!

Travel Plans

Our plans have been finalized. My mother and daughter, Katie, age 4, will be going with me. We are all so excited!!

1/10~ leave for Beijing
1/12-1/13~ sightseeing in Beijing
1/14~ fly to Nanchang to meet Sarah. She will be with us forever!! (staying at the Gloria Hotel)
1/19~ fly to Guangzhou (staying at the White Swan)
1/24~ fly home!!!!!!!!!

TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am pleased as punch to announce that we got our travel approval (TA) today to go to China to bring Sarah home!! We are busy moving to our new house so that Sarah will not have another transition after we get home, so we are frantically trying to get everything ready in our new house and get our old house ready to sell. With everything in a shambles, we have decided not to leave until after the new year, probably around January 10th, so that we can focus on Sarah when we get home. I cannot wait to hold my little girl and Katie canot wait to have her "baby hister" home.

LID!!

I was just informed today that we have our log-in-date!! It is 9-20-06. I am a bit disappointed that it wasn't sooner, since my dossier went to china 8-28-06, but I am thankful that I have one. Sarah, hold on baby!! We will be there soon!!

DTC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am officially "DTC" (dossier to China)!!!! My dossier was sent to China on August 28th and arrived there (I assume) August 30th. Now my agency coordinator has to translate it and take it to the CCAA to get it logged in. My LID (log-in-date) will hopefully be around September 8th. That is the date I can officially start "counting" the days. Lately people have been getting the TA's (travel approval) after about 75 days. The last batch my agency got was in the low 60's, but I'm not counting on that. There's really no way to predict when it will come, but I am hoping for sometime between November 7th and 22nd.